The present invention relates generally to devices for interacting with computer systems, and in particular, to a mobile phone incorporating a printer for printing interface surfaces.
Demand for wireless access to interactive information and applications via mobile phones is increasing, due in large part to expectations created by wired access to the Internet. While bandwidth limitations are being addressed by third-generation mobile technology, the constrained user interfaces of mobile phones are an intrinsic impediment to usability, and this problem is only exacerbated by shrinking form factors.
The present invention utilizes methods, systems and devices related to a system referred to as xe2x80x9cnetpagexe2x80x9d, described in our co-pending applications listed above, wherein invisible coded data is disposed on various surfaces to render the surfaces interactive in the manner of graphical user interfaces to computer systems.
The present invention, in its various embodiments, provides a mobile telephone which incorporates a number of netpage systems to increase the utility of the netpage system.
In one form the invention is a mobile telephone which has a first transceiver (or a separate transmitter and receiver) for communication on the phone""s mobile telephone network and a second transceiver (or a separate transmitter and receiver) for communicating with a netpage pen or similar device. The pen transmits data to and receives data from the netpage system via the mobile telephone and the mobile telephone system.
The mobile telephone may include a printer whereby information may be printed on demand. The printer may be an ordinary printer or a netpage enabled printer.
The mobile telephone may incorporate a netpage sensor so that the user may use the telephone to interact with netpage directly without the need for a separate netpage sensor pen. The mobile telephone still uses the mobile telephony network to communicate with the netpage system. Alternately, the phone may have a separate transceiver. The telephone may include both a netpage sensor and a netpage printer.
Where the telephone incorporates a netpage sensor and/or a netpage printer it may still act as a base station/relay station for other netpage sensor pens.
Preferably the telephone will only act as a base station/relay station for netpage pens registered to the telephone""s user and will not interact with other user""s netpage pen. Accordingly, in a first broad form, the invention provides a mobile telephone device including:
a mobile telephone unit including:
a first transmitter for transmitting signals over a mobile telephony system, and
a first receiver for receiving signals from a mobile telephony system;
a first sensor device for sensing coded data and for outputting raw data based on said sensed data; and
a transmitter controller operable to control the first transmitter to transmit output data based at least partially on said sensed data via the mobile telephony system to a computer system.
In a second broad form the invention provides a mobile telephone device including:
a mobile telephone unit including:
a first transmitter for transmitting data over a mobile telephony network;
a first receiver for receiving data from a mobile telephony network;
a second transmitter and a second receiver for transmitting data to and receiving data from one or more sensor devices, the sensor devices transmitting data;
control means operable to control said first transmitter to transmit data received by the second receiver from one or more sensor devices to a computer system via the mobile telephony network.
In a third broad form the invention provides a mobile telephone device including:
a mobile telephone unit including:
a first transmittal for transmitting data to a mobile telephony network;
a first receiver for receiving data from a mobile telephony network;
a printer mechanism for receiving document data and printing an interface onto a surface, the interface being at least partially based on the document data, the document data including identity data indicative of at least one identity, the identity being associated with a region of the interface, the interface including coded data
In a fourth broad form the invention provides a mobile telephone device including:
a mobile telephone unit including:
a first transmitter for transmitting signals over a mobile telephony system, and
a first receiver for receiving signals from a mobile telephony system;
a first sensor device for sensing coded data and for outputting raw data corresponding to said sensed data;
a transmitter controller operable to control the first transmitter to transmit output data based at least on the raw data via the mobile telephony system to a computer system, and
a printing mechanism capable of printing an interface which includes information visible to the unaided eye of the average human and machine readable information which is invisible to the unaided eye of the average human.